New MLA to help ‘innocent youth’ in riots cases

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Newly elected Congress MLA from Pulakeshi Nagar AC Srinivas has promised he would help falsely implicated youth in the DJ Halli, KJ Halli and Kavalabyrasandra riots that took place in August 2020 but insisted that he would use legal means and only help the innocent.

However, he didn’t specify whether that the help in question would involve appointing lawyers for the accused or something else. Srinivas had bagged 87,316 votes in the constituency, opening up a gap of 62,210 votes between himself and second place Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) rival Akhanda Srinivas Murthy.

“We actually think of it as our duty to obtain justice for the innocent. We will take the steps to ensure the same,” Srinivas said. “We will inform people of the same in the days to come. It is a legal issue and we will deal with it legally,” he added. Srinivas was referring to August 11, 2020 riots that took place in the north-east of Bengaluru. Trouble began when the then Pulakeshi Nagar MLA Murthy’s nephew P Naveen published a Facebook post insulting the prophet of Islam.

Muslim protesters, including Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) members turned up at DJ Halli police station and demanded an FIR be registered against Naveen. They claimed there was a deliberate delay in the filing of the case due to Naveen's political connections and rioting erupted on the spot. Police responded with tear gas shells and lathi-charge killing four.

Rioting and arson also happened near KG Halli police station and Murthy’s house was set on fire. Locals alleged between 200 to 800 Muslim youths picked up, including innocents. Guardians approached Murthy to have their wards released but to no avail. Following that, many Muslims in the constituency, including Ulema (Islamic scholars) had opposed Murthy’s candidature. Congress top brass agreed and gave the Pulakeshi Nagar ticket to AC Srinivas instead. A miffed Murthy contested on a BSP ticket.

Drinking water main issue: Srinivas

Srinivas also expressed interest in dealing with civic issues in his constituency including ensuring frequent Cauvery drinking water for everyone, sanitation and cleanliness in the segment, besides establishing a government hospital and school in the area.

He also hailed the “guarantees” of the Congress: Rs2,000 monthly for women “head of households”, 200 units of free electricity, Rs3,000 monthly for unemployed graduates and Rs1,500 for diploma holders, 10 kgs of free rice for Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders and free bus travel for the fairer sex.

Srinivas had contested from Mahadevapura against BJP’s Aravind Limbavali in the 2018 polls and lost. Since then he was working in Devanahalli constituency until he was displaced by Kolar Congress bigwig KH Muniyappa who also contested and won from the seat.